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THIS WEEK IN THE CAPE LEAGUE 2008B.F.C. WHITEHOUSEOUTSTANDING PITCHER AWARD

Bourne Right-hander Nick McCully
Named Winner of Whitehouse Award
As Cape League’s Pitcher of the Year

BOURNE, Mass. -- A darkhorse candidate for much of the season, Bourne’s Nick McCully (Coastal Carolina) emerged as the winner of the B.F.C. Whitehouse Award as the Cape Cod Baseball League’s Outstanding Pitcher in 2008. McCully, out of Coastal Carolina, outlasted early season favorites such as Matt Thomson of Orleans, Andrew Carraway of Hyannis and his Braves teammate, Bryce Stowell.

Nick McCully, Bourne Braves
Pitcher of the Year
SportsPix 2008

McCully won the award after posting a perfect 5-0 record with a 1.98 ERA in nine games, eight of them starts. The 5-11, 195-pound right-hander allowed 30 hits in 50 innings of work, striking out 44 and issuing only 14 bases on balls. His five wins tied for second most in the league, while his ERA ranked seventh.

The Braves appeared to be down for the count before a late-season surge catapulted Bourne into the thick of the West Division playoff race. McCully pitched a game the Braves desperately needed on the next-to-last day of the season, allowing just one run in six innings against Yarmouth-Dennis as Bourne emerged with a 5-1 victory.

The Braves ultimately fell short, finishing in a second-place tie with Falmouth, then losing a one-game “play-in” for the right to play Cotuit in the division playoffs.

McCully certainly didn’t do it alone, as the Braves had another ace on their hands in Stowell (California-Irvine), who went 3-1 with a 2.36 ERA, which ranked ninth in the league, and started the All-Star Game for the West Division.

“(McCully) and Stowell were ‘one-A’ and ‘one-B’,” said Braves general manager Mike Carrier. “We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without those two guys.” Between them, the two aces combined for eight of the Braves’ 23 wins.

Nick McCully posted a 5-0 record with a 1.98 ERA. SportsPix 2008

McCully was a sophomore at Coastal Carolina, where he split time between starting and relieving, appearing out of the bullpen in 10 of his 24 appearances last spring. He went 10-3 with a 3.63 ERA with three saves while walking 27 and striking out 72 in 891/3 innings.

A native of Lakeland, Fla., he was an all-state selection as a junior at Santa Fe Catholic High School and was named team MVP his final three years.

B.F.C. Whitehouse, the man for whom the pitching award is named, was a longtime booster of the Cape League and the Harwich Mariners, whose playing field bears his name.